Educational Science

The bacteria that cause Chlamydia, the world's most common sexually transmitted disease, seems to be sneakier than once thought, as a new study suggests it frequently exchanges DNA between different strains to form entirely new strains. Chlaymydia is caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis, and though its symptoms are often...

Why Much of North America Skipped Winter

For parts of North America, this winter was the winter that nearly wasn't. January ranked as the fourth-warmest for the 48 U.S. states on record since 1895. December, too, was above average, although not as significantly. The final analysis for February is not yet in, but weather watchers expect last...

Mike McCullough never intended to start freeze-drying beloved pets for grieving owners. But more than a decade ago, a friend of a friend asked the Fort Loudon, Penn., taxidermist to save his beloved dog from the grave or cremation by preserving the animal instead. McCullough agreed. Then he talked to...

Accurate Weather Forecast For Your Street

Accurate weather forecasts depend on data collected from weather instruments. Lots of 'em. The more data, the higher-resolution the picture of what's going on. But the National Weather Service doesn't have weather instruments on every street. But another place does. Well, almost. The Weather Underground has turned to thousands of...

Entire Month's Worth of Tornadoes Strike in One Day

In what may be the biggest daily tornado outbreak on record for March, an entire month's worth of twisters struck in a single day. The nation's Storm Prediction Center received 81 reports of tornadoes yesterday (March 2), according to data filtered to remove duplicate reports of tornadoes. For the entire...

Older People Hold Stronger Belief in God

Across the world, people have varying levels of belief (and disbelief) in God, with some nations being more devout than others. But new research reveals one constant across parts of the globe: As people age, their belief in God seems to increase. The new study is based on data collected...

Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel

Wheels are the archetype of a primitive, caveman-level technology. But in fact, they're so ingenious that it took until 3500 B.C. for someone to invent them. By that time — it was the Bronze Age — humans were already casting metal alloys, constructing canals and sailboats, and even designing complex...

Photo: Who's Feet Are These?

Guess who? Though these weird tootsies may spark the imagination, these are not the feet of a mythical beast featured in the pages of a Harry Potter book. The luxurious fur and claw-like toes belong to an animal that needs both for its high-mountain lifestyle: an alpaca. Thick fur helps...

Titanic Wreck Site Mapped for First Time

The first comprehensive map of the Titanic wreck site has been created as researchers pieced together some 130,000 photos taken by underwater robots in the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean. Resembling the moon's surface, the map shows debris and parts of the ship scattered across a 15 square-mile patch...